Re: The Goal of Gnome

[joshbaldwin42 .]

Allow me to use an example to show you how I arrived at these questions and
how I think this differs from GNU.  Going to
https://www.gnu.org/home.en.html tells me in the first line what GNU is
trying to accomplish: "GNU is an operating system that is free software
—that is, it respects users'
freedom. The development of GNU made it possible to use a computer without
software that would trample your freedom."  As a random person, I can
understand what they are trying to do: build the components required for an
operating system.

However, when we go to https://www.gnome.org/foundation/ we see: "The GNOME
Foundation is a non-profit organization that furthers the goals of the
GNOME Project, helping it to create a free software computing platform for
the general public that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and easy to
use."  So the GNOME Foundation furthers the GNOME Project.  But nothing I
can find on the website mentions what the GNOME Project is about.

I can find the GNOME Project on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_GNOME_Project which lists the project's
goals.  I will copy them here:

The project focuses on:

   - Independence – the governing board is democratically elected and
   technical decisions are made by the engineers doing the work.
   - Freedom – development infrastructure and communication channels are
   public, the code can be freely downloaded, modified and shared and all
   contributors have the same rights.
   - Connectedness – work spans the entire Free software stack.
   - People – emphasis on accessibility
    and
   internationalization
   .
GNOME
   is available in more than 40 languages (at least 80 percent of strings
   translated)[11]
   

   and is being translated to 190 languages.

But this still does not give a definitive, concrete view of the actual
programs under the GNOME umbrella.  Why does GNOME have gtk+ and desktop UI
programs but also a calculator and cookbook?  Is a goal of GNOME to support
all non-critical software of a computer (that is, pieces GNU is not
supporting)?  Can a math library be apart of GNOME?  Video games?  Is there
anything keeping LibreOffice or Octave from becoming a part of GNOME?

I don't mean for all those to be answered, but meant to be guide for
discussion and thought.

Thanks!
-Josh

On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 5:26 PM, Richard Stallman  wrote:

> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
>
> Since a similar question arises for the GNU system as a whole, our
> experience
> might be pertinent to discuss here.
>
> --
> Dr Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org)
> Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org)
> Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html.
>
>
___
foundation-list mailing list
foundation-list@gnome.org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list

The Goal of Gnome

[joshbaldwin42 .]

Hello!

I'm not sure the correct group to contact with this question, so feel free
to send me elsewhere.

I was reading all about the GNOME Foundation and tools.  But what struck me
is the lack of an overall vision for the GNOME Foundation.

What is your goal?  GNOME supports a wide range of applications and
libraries.  What makes a piece of software GNOME?  Why would you want a
specific piece of software under GNOME?  Do you have priority projects to
fit your vision similar to the FSF high priority projects page?  Where
would you like GNOME to be in 5-10 years and why?

Of course I am interested in these answers, but ideally it would be nice to
write up something nice and publish it on your website.  Such answers could
conjurer up inspiration in soon to be GNOME contributors since they would
know what direction they are marching.

Thanks!
-Josh
___
foundation-list mailing list
foundation-list@gnome.org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list